Daimler Defeats Patent Suit Over Drowsiness Detection

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz unit won
a U.S. lawsuit that accused the carmaker of infringing a patent
for a monitor to detect when a motorist is drowsy.

The patent, owned by licensing company Ibormeith IP LLC, is
invalid, U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg ruled Sept. 5 in
federal court in Newark, New Jersey. She said the patent owner
never clearly described what the invention claimed to cover.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2010, targeted the Mercedes
Attention Assist feature used in the E-Class and some S-Class
vehicles. The feature monitors a driver’s behavior at the start
of a trip and develops a profile for comparison throughout the
journey. If the pattern alters, an alarm is sounded suggesting
the driver take a break.

Patent law requires inventors to describe, in definite
terms, the scope of their invention, much like a landowner must
explain his property borders so others know where to avoid.

While the Ibormeith patent claims to cover an algorithm to
compute the changes in a driver, it “fails to disclose the
steps necessary to actually perform that suggested algorithm,”
Hochberg ruled.

Patents are rarely ruled indefinite, according to a
statement today by Shearman & Sterling LLP, the law firm that
represented Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler in the case.

The case is Ibormeith LLC v. Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, 10-cv-5378, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).